Reminiscing about the Hottest 100

I’ve gone all nostalgic after this latest Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time. I still haven’t gotten over the fact that So. Central Rain didn’t rate a mention (sniff) and can’t believe people are STILL voting for Smells Like Teen Spirit.

But anyway.

I still remember the old days when voting for the Triple J Hottest 100 was done by writing your fave songs on the back of an envelope and posting them to the station. And yes, they did have to count each and every one of the votes: they’ve confirmed it: “Back in 1989, triple j lovingly and painstakingly hand counted every one of those entries in the first Hottest 100.” It must have been fun tallying them all up! Now we can go and vote online.

I remember sitting and listening to the Hottest 100 – spending all day glued to the radio, especially as the Top 10 drew closer. (Ah, those were the days, living in a share house, when my biggest worries were how I was going to meet my deadline for that essay and getting annoyed with housemate J for using up all the milk, again.) I remember writing all the songs down as the countdown proceeded, because back then you couldn’t just go and look them up on Wikipedia the day after.

I also remember having silly arguments about the songs that made the Top 10. “Throw Your Arms Around Me is Much Better than Love Will Tear Us Apart…” or “How can Asshole be the top song for this year [1993], no way!” Such arguments were confined to the small circle of my housemates and friends though. Now we can text or tweet what we think as each song is played, comment on the Hottest 100 site, get into arguments on Facebook…

These days I have sort of moved on and the music on Triple J no longer rouses me as it used to. I listen to Radio National more. I can’t listen to Dr Karl as I am usually working when he’s on.

However, whenever I’m wondering what The Kids These Days are listening to, I can just go and listen online (new music selections, podcasts, reviews, etc). I don’t listen to Dr Karl but I follow him on Twitter.

I love the fact that our national broadcaster is using all these tools to engage with us, its audience. Cheers, Aunty!